Hard to Concentrate
by JacquelineHyde114
Summary: Charlie Weasley's sixth year at Hogwarts. With the Quidditch fame, devoted fans, and most beautiful girl in school falling at his feet, what else could a guy ask for? CharlieOC
1. Back to School

_Disclaimer! I do not own any of the Weasleys or any other characters you may recognize. Also...just a note...this is my first story I've written where I've paired someone with an OC...in this case, Charlie. I figured that he's one of the charaters that we don't know a lot about (even though he's really cool! He works with dragons!) so I could experiment with him and an OC. To be honest, I really don't like OC's all that much, but I thought I'd give it a try anyway. _

"Hogwarts!"

"Hogwarts!"

"Hoggy Warty Hogwarts!"

"Hogwarts!"

"Hogwarts!"

"Hoggy Warty Hogwarts!" Charlie Weasley had been listening to his eleven-year-old twin brothers chanting the same thing over and over all morning. Annoying as it was, however, Charlie couldn't help but smile as he and his family made their way through the crowd at Kings Cross to Platform 9 3/4. He had felt the same way before his first train ride to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

"Fred, George, please keep your voices down. You know how many Muggles are around." Molly Weasley told her sons.

"Oh don't worry Molly, they're just having a little fun. Besides, I'm sure no one's listening to them anyway." Arthur Weasley said.

"HOGWARTS!"

"HOGWARTS!"

"HOGGY WARTY-"

"Alright boys, that _is_ enough." Arthur clamped firm hands over the twins' mouths and smiled at his wife nervously. Molly raised an eyebrow.

"Mother, there's the barrier." Percy pointed out.

"Yes, very good Percy." Molly said. "Right, Charlie, you're the oldest now. You go first, dear."

After checking to make sure all of his belongings were still with him, Charlie pushed his luggage straight for the brick barrier. Every year, the illusion that he was about to collide with a brick wall gave him a thrill. It was the perfect way to start off a new school year. He hadn't been through the barrier for more than a second before two voices reached his ears.

"Well, look who finally decided to show up!"

"Yeah, what exactly does 10:45 mean in your mother tongue, Charlie?" Charlie's best friends Jeffrey Grace and Ben Howard, who had apparently already loaded their things onto the train, were leaning against either side of the barrier. Charlie laughed.

"We had a bit of a hectic morning. Fred and George are starting school this year."

"Enough said." Ben told his friend.

"Here, we'll help you load your stuff." Jeff offered.

"Thanks." Charlie said. As the three friends pushed and shoved their way through the crowd, they were greeted with smiles and "Hi boys" from girls in every direction. Charlie and Jeff smiled back politely, but Ben was thoroughly enjoying the attention.

"Hello darling, how was your summer." He asked, placing an arm around a fifth year Hufflepuff girl.

"Great." She smiled at him.

"Wonderful." He smiled back, before catching up to Charlie and Jeff, who were both laughing.

"And what was her name?" Charlie asked.

"No clue." Ben replied. Charlie and Jeff shook their heads, hopelessly. Ben was the stereotypical good-looking Quidditch player, and he knew it too. He was the tallest of the three friends at 6'2 with a skinny yet muscular build. He had wavy brown hair, big blue eyes, and a winning smile with a personality to match. It was easy to see why he was so popular among the young witches of Hogwarts. Jeff was the more quiet, laid back member of the group, though had a sharp, quick wit around those who were close to him. He had sandy blond hair which hung to his shoulders and thin rimmed glasses which framed his amber eyes. He and Charlie were within centimeters of each other's height, which was around 5'10, but Jeff was almost dangerously thin, despite the fact that he would eat anything that was set in front of him. Charlie, on the other hand, was easliy the strongest, most built member of the trio. As a child, he had been self-conscious about his weight, but by the time he started at Hogwarts, he had come to accecpt the fact that he would never be as tall and thin as Bill, whom everyone considered to be very handsome. Charlie had always been friendly and outgoing, with a warm, sunny smile and sparkling blue eyes, which helped him make friends easily. In his second year, he joined the Gryffindor Quidditch team and turned out to be the best Seeker Hogwarts had seen in over a century. Then, last year, his fifth year, he was made Quidditch Captain, despite the fact that there was a seventh year and two sixth years on the team. That year, people began to notice that Charlie Weasley had grown from a short, slightly pudgy fourth year into a tall, muscular young man with a handsome angular face, broad, sturdy shoulders, and strong, well-defined arms. From that year on, it became common knowledge that Ben, Jeff, and Charlie were three of Hogwarts' most sought after guys, though of the three of them, only Ben seemed to notice.

"Charlie!" As the three boys loaded Charlie's belongings onto the train, he heard his mother's voice. "There you are darling. You will keep an eye on Fred and George, won't you?" She asked.

"Sure Mum." He replied.

"Thank you. I know Percy is only too eager to control them, but I don't think he can handle both of them by himself."

"The Professors will keep them under control." Charlie told his mother.

"I know...but you know them. And they respect you...more than your other brothers anyway." Molly said. Charlie grinned.

"Don't worry, Mum. They'll be fine." He said as Fred and George came racing up to them.

"I wanna get on first!"

"No! Me!"

"But I'm older!"

"By three minutes!"

"Still older!"

"But I'm taller!"

"You are not!"

"BOYS!" Molly yelled. Fred and George froze and looked at their mother. "You two will behave, _won't you_?" She glared at them.

"Yes Mum." They gave her quick angelic grins before both of them kissed her cheeks at once. "Love you!" They announced loudly before scrambling onto the Hogwarts Express.

"Please watch them." Molly begged.

"I will, Mum." Charlie said before giving his mother a hug. "I love you."

"I love you too, darling. You have a great year."

"I will Mum. See you at Christmas."

"Bye."

"Goodbye, son." Arthur came strolling up with little Ron and Ginny and gave Charlie a quick hug.

"Bye Dad."

"Bye Charlie!" Ron waved.

"Bye bye!" Ginny called.

"Bye Ron, bye Ginny!" Charlie hugged his younger siblings before climbing onto the train himself.

"Okay...time to hunt for a compartment that is not overflowing with toddlers." Ben announced.

"Charlie! There you are!" Charlie turned to see Lucy Aarons walking briskly toward him, her long blond hair flowing perfectly behind her. "Prefects meeting. Don't you remember?"

"Oh right." Charlie said. "I'll find you guys later." He told Ben and Jeff and began to walk with Lucy, who was also a Gryffindor sixth year prefect.

"How was your summer?" Lucy asked.

"Alright. Yours?"

"Oh, it was fantastic. I was so busy all summer, it really flew by."

"Same." Charlie said as a compartment door flew open and two red headed blurs flew past him. "Woah! What are you doing?" He called. Fred and George skidded to a halt.

"Nothing." They replied before sprinting down the hall.

"Yeah, right." Charlie muttered under his breath.

"More brothers?" Lucy asked.

"Yeah...Fred and George. I don't know what kind of trouble they're going to get themselves into this time."

"How many brothers do you have?" Lucy asked.

"Five brothers, one sister."

"Wow...makes me glad I only have one sister." Lucy said.

"Yeah." Charlie agreed as they reached the prefects meeting. Charlie looked around the compartment at the new fifth year prefects and returning sixth and seventh year prefects. From his year, he saw Hufflepuff students Kelly Hodges and Brian Zingler, Ravenclaw students Hazel Jones and Eli Fairview, and Slytherin students Phoebe Snippet and Joel Marice, all of whom looked just as bored as he was. They had all heard the same speech last year. As soon as the meeting was over, Lucy turned to Charlie.

"I'm out of here." She said.

"So am I." He agreed.

"So...are you going to bring Gryffindor yet another win this year?" She asked, implying the Quidditch House Cup.

"It wasn't all me." Charlie said sheepishly.

"You're so modest. You know you're the best Seeker the school has ever seen." She smiled.

"Thanks." Charlie grinned, feeling a bit uncomfortable. He never knew how to respond when people started going on about what a great Quidditch player he was.

"Do you have any ideas on who you're going to recruit for our new Keeper?" She asked.

"I'll hold tryouts on Friday." He told her. "Why...do you know anyone?"

"No, I was just wondering." She said.

"Hey!" Lucy and Charlie turned to see a stunningly pretty girl with long, fluttering light brown hair walking their way. "Saved you a seat." Claire Bonnet, Lucy's best friend, announced to her. "Hi Charlie." She smiled.

"Hello." He gave a small grin.

"It's good to see you again." She batted her long, perfect eyelashes.

"Good to see you too." Charlie said politely. Although Claire Bonnet was flawlessly beautiful, easily the prettiest girl in the year, she was exceedingly conceited. Charlie knew she also had a profound weakness for Quidditch players. And she, like everyone else, knew that Charlie was the best of the best. "Well, I need to go find Ben and Jeff. See you later." He told them.

"Bye." They chorused.

"There you are." Jeff said when Charlie found them in one of the last compartments.

"What took you so long?" Ben asked.

"I had a Claire Bonnet encounter."

"And that's a bad thing?" Ben asked. "Come on, Charlie. She's the most beautiful girl in school. And she's nuts about you."

"She's not my type." Charlie said, trying to avoid the same conversation they had whenever Claire Bonnet was mentioned.

"I think you're just intimidated by her." Ben said.

"No, I'm just not interested in her."

"Whatever. Hey, as long as you have her falling at your feet, you want to try and hook me up with Lucy?" Ben asked. Charlie rolled his eyes.

"You're impossible."

Sooner than the boys realized, they had arrived at Hogwarts and were taken into the Great Hall for the Sorting ceremony. To no one's surprise, Fred and George were sorted into Gryffindor. Charlie applauded extra hard as his younger brothers proudly joined the Gryffindor table.

"You're little brothers are so cute, Charlie!" Claire leaned across the table to tell him.

"You don't know them." Charlie joked good-naturedly.

"How do you tell them apart?" Lucy asked.

"If you look really hard, Fred has a little scar on his right cheek." As soon as the Sorting was over, Dumbledore greeted the students back with a few words ("Hibbler, Fluff, Nouget!") and the feast began.

"I've been waiting all summer for this feast." Ben said happily, his mouth full of pie.

"Here, here!" Jeff and Charlie agreed. After the feast and a few general beginning of the year announcements, the students were dismissed to their dormitories. Charlie looked over to the first years to see if they needed to be escorted and suddenly realized that after the delicious feast, he was very sleepy. He was pleased to see that the two new fifth year prefects were doing a fine job of gathering the first years and leading them to the common room.

"Well, shall we?" Ben asked.

"Let's go. I'm tired." Jeff said. Once they arrived in their dormitory, they said hello to Dylan Hall and Preston Kirkpatrick, the two other boys with whom they shared the room, and changed into their pajamas. Charlie fell into bed before the lights were turned off and was just dozing off, beginning to snore lightly, when the curtain of his four-poster bed was pulled back and he was blinded by light.

"Huh? What?" He asked groggily.

"You have a couple of visitors." Jeff told him. Charlie rubbed his eyes and got out of bed. Fred and George stood in the door.

"Goodnight Charlie!" They said happily. Tired as he was, Charlie couldn't bring himself to be mad at them. He remembered how he himself had gone up to Bill's dorm as a first year to say goodnight to him on his first night.

"Goodnight kiddos." He smiled and pulled them into a brotherly hug. "You guys said goodnight to Percy yet?" He asked with a mischievious gleam in his eye. He knew how much it would annoy Percy to be visited in his dorm by his little brothers.

"Nope! He's next!" Fred grinned. Charlie laughed.

"Well, have fun. Don't pester him too much."

"We won't." Fred and George, not sounding like they meant it at all. They turned to leave.

"And Fred, George? You're not making a habit of this." Charlie told them, indicating he did not want them in his room every night.

"Nah...only once a month...twice if you're lucky." George replied. Charlie hoped he was joking.

"You're too nice to them Charlie." Preston told him as they all climbed into bed. "If my little brother had come up here to say goodnight, I would have slammed the door in his face."

"I went up to Bill's dorm my first night here to tell him goodnight."

"Percy didn't do that when he was a first year." Jeff pointed out.

"Well, Percy's never been very social." Charlie said with a huge yawn.

"Alright...lights are going off." Ben announced. The room went dark and no one talked for the rest of the night.


	2. Group Project

The next morning at breakfast, the boys received their schedules.

"What the heck? I don't have any classes with you guys!" Ben exclaimed, comparing his schedule to Jeff's and Charlie's.

"You're not in Care of Magical Creatures." Charlie pointed out.

"You two are taking that class? Are you crazy?" Ben asked.

"It's my favorite class." Charlie told him.

"It's hazardous to your health." Ben told him.

"Just because you nearly died last year doesn't mean it's dangerous." Jeff said with a playful smile.

"Yeah, who knew Nifflers could detect gold tooth fillings?" Charlie asked.

"I do after I almost choked on one." Ben grumbled. Jeff and Charlie couldn't help but laugh.

"Hey Charlie?" Fred and George came up to him.

"Exactly _how_ boring is History of Magic?" George asked.

"Pretty boring." Charlie told them honestly.

"So...if you were us, what would you do? Exploding Snap? Dungbombs?"

"Personally, I favor illegal model broomsticks, but since it's your first day, I advise you to maybe pretend to be paying attention, at least for the first week."

"Pay attention?" Fred and George looked revolted by the very thought. Charlie sighed. He should have known that that would be expecting way too much of the twins.

"Fine...you don' t have to pay attention. Play hangman or something."

"Okay."

"We just wanted to make sure we had your permission before we started slacking off in classes."

"Yeah, so then Mum can't blame us."

"Thanks a lot." Charlie said dryly.

"No problem." Fred and George offered big, dopey grins before returning to their breakfast.

"No more History...this year is going to be great!" Jeff said enthusiastically.

"Oh I know!" Ben said, seeming to have forgotten that they didn't have any of the same classes. "Hello Lucy." He smiled as she as Claire walked by. "And where are you lovely ladies off to?"

"Care of Magical Creatures." Lucy smiled.

"You're taking it, aren't you Charlie?" Claire asked.

"Er...yeah." He said.

"Why don't you walk with us?" Claire asked.

"We're not done eating yet." He nodded his head at Jeff.

"Oh...you're taking it too?" Claire asked, clearly not impressed.

"Yep." Jeff replied, eyeing her coolly. He felt the same way about her as Charlie did. He just didn't have a problem with showing it.

"Well...it'll be fun!" She said. "I guess we'll see you there."

"See you." Charlie said. The two girls walked off.

"Maybe I should take Care of Magical Creatures." Ben joked.

"You're hopeless." Chalire told him.

"A hopeless romantic!" Ben quipped, which made all three boys burst out laughing.

"Well, the crowd is starting to disperse. Should we head to class?" Jeff asked.

"Yeah, let's go." Charlie stood.

"Have fun in the danger zone." Jeff waved, smirking.

When Ben and Charlie arrived in the class area just outside the forest, they saw that most of their class had already arrived. The class appeared to be small. Twelve stools had been placed around three tables that had been set out. One table was full of Hufflepuff students. Claire, Lucy, and another of their friends, Nina, sat at another. Two Ravenclaw girls occupied the third. Charlie scanned the class, and saw Claire waving frantically to get his attention and patting the seat next to her. He pointed at Jeff and shrugged.

"Hey, let's go sit over with them." Jeff said, indicating the two Ravenclaw girls.

"Er...okay." Charlie hesitated. He had never actually gotten to know Elle Reiley or Hazel Jones, but had his reasons for being nervous around them. Hazel was Ravenclaw's star Chaser and last year, during a very close Quidditch match, Charlie had collided with her, nearly snapping her arm in half. It was the only time he had ever been embarrassed on the Quidditch field.

Almost as though he had read Charlie's thoughts, Jeff said, "Don't worry about what happened last year. It was just an accident."

"But it was so embarrassing!"

"It could have been a lot worse."

"Yeah..." Charlie said as they approached the table.

"Is anyone sitting here?" Jeff asked the two girls. They looked up at them. Charlie felt his ears turn red.

"No." Elle replied.

"You can sit here." Hazel said.

"Thanks." Jeff said. He took the seat across from Elle. Charlie sat down across from Hazel.

"Alright class, listen up!" Professor Kettleburn addressed the students. "Welcome to the N.E.W.T. level Care of Magical Creatures class. As you may or may not have heard from students in previous years, I like to start my N.E.W.T. students off with a group project. There will be three groups. Each group consists of the people at your table, so I hope you like who you're sitting with. Your assignment is to pick one magical creature of your choice to research. I will give you a list of every topic you need to cover in your presentation, but how you present is up to you. Now you will have the rest of the class period to talk amongst your group and decide on a magical creature."

"Wow, this is going to be fun." Elle smiled enthusiastically.

"Yeah!" Hazel agreed. "So...anyone have any thoughts on what our creature should be?"

"I've always thought chimeras were cool." Jeff offered.

"What about acromantulas?" Elle asked. "I've heard rumors of a giant colony living in the Forbidden Forest."

"I have too. But they can't possibly be true. There hasn't been an Acromantula sighting in decades...maybe even centuries..."

"I like hippogriffs. They're such beautiful creatures." Hazel commented.

"I love hippogriffs." Elle said with a dreamy look in her eye.

"I know." Hazel smiled. Hazel and Elle were best friends but they were so close, they might as well have been sisters. "What about you Charlie?" Hazel asked.

"What?" Charlie asked, somewhat scared that she was about to bring up last year's Quidditch match, but she did no such thing. Instead, she looked at him with large brown eyes and asked her question.

"What creautres do you like?"

"Oh...well...I don't know. I like all of them."

"What's your favorite?" She asked.

"I've always had a thing for dragons." Charlie didn't have to think about that answer for a second, but braced himself for a negative reaction. Usually when he talked about dragons around a girl, she would shudder or say something like, "Dragons! Ooh...they're so scary! And they're brutal murderers! I don't like them!"

"Dragons are amazing. And they're really beautiful." Hazel said sincerely. Charlie was shocked.

"You like dragons?"

"Yeah. When I was younger, my parents would take me to Renaissance Festivals and there would be the most beautiful statues of dragons guarding castles or treasure chests. I would go home and pretend that I had a pet dragon who guarded all my treasure." She smiled sheepishly. "I can't tell you how excited I was when I found out dragons were real."

"Didn't you always know that?" Jeff asked.

"I'm Muggle-born." Hazel explained.

"Oh, I see." Jeff said.

"What's your favorite dragon?" Charlie asked Hazel, suddenly wishing he had started talking to her long before this moment.

"I don't know too much about different breeds, but I really like Swedish Shortsnouts. I love their coloring."

"Blue's my favorite color." Charlie told her.

"Me too." Hazel said.

"Mine is golden yellow. And orange. And green."

"You have a lot of favorites." Jeff laughed.

"I love colors." Elle shrugged. "So, what are we goning to do? For our project?"

"Anything is fine with me." Hazel said.

"Same." Charlie said.

"I don't care." Jeff said.

"Well, I'm glad we're such a decisive group." Elle said sarcastically. The group laughed.

"Yeah, I guess someone does need to make a decision." Charlie said.

"Okay, what was mentioned?" Hazel asked pulling out a piece of parchment and a quill.

"Chimeras, acromantulas, hippogriffs, and dragons." Jeff told her.

"Well, everyone knows about Hippogriffs, so we can cross that one off." Hazel said.

"We don't have to do chimeras. I don't think there's too much information about them out there anyway." Jeff said.

"I think dragons would be a good choice." Elle announced.

"Me too. There's a lot of information about them and too many people who don't understand them. I think educating everyone would be a great idea for a project." Hazel said. Charlie couldn't believe what he was hearing. He had always thought he and Hagrid were the only ones who had such feelings about dragons.

"That sounds good. Everyone alright with that?" Jeff asked.

"Yeah." Elle said.

"Of course." Charlie said.

"Wonderful." Hazel smiled as the rest of their class began to depart.

"Class is over." A student informed them.

"Right. Excellent." Jeff said.

"This project is going to be fun." Hazel said.

"Yeah. Thanks for letting us work with you." Charlie said.

"No problem." Hazel smiled. "We'll see you guys later." She and Elle waved and walked away.

"Why didn't we get to know them earlier?" Jeff asked Charlie.

"I was just wondering the same thing." Charlie said. "Hey, what do we have next?"

"Er...let me check." Jeff pulled out his schedule. "Potions."

"Joy." Charlie moaned.

"Hey Charlie. What's your group doing?" Claire asked, catching up to him and Jeff.

"We're going to research dragons." Charlie smiled.

"Oh! Dragons are so scary!" Charlie looked at her with a bemused expression. "We're going to study unicorns."

"Unicorns are cool."

"They're beautiful." Claire said dreamily. "Was that Hazel Jones you were working with?"

"Yes."

"Didn't you break her arm last year?" Claire asked.

"Yeah..."

"Touchy subject." Jeff interjected.

"Wow! I'm surprised she's even talking to you!" Claire seemed surprised.

"Yeah, me too. Well, see you later." Charlie said.

"Wait! What class do you have next?"

"Potions."

"I do too! I'll walk with you."

"Er...okay."

"Where's Ben?" Lucy wanted to know.

"He's not taking Care of Magical Creatures." Charlie replied.

"Yeah...he got a little more than he could swallow last year." Jeff grinned.

"Literally." Charlie laughed. Claire and Lucy looked at them curiously. "Forget it." Charlie told them.

"I hate Potions." Lucy said.

"Who doesn't?" Jeff muttered as they entered the dungeons. Glancing around the room, Charlie wasn't surprised to see that not many of their peers had opted to take N.E.W.T. level Potions. Besides the four Gryffindor students, there were only three Slytherins. Charlie and Jeff took seats behind Claire and Lucy when the dungeon door opened. Charlie turned and was delighted to see Hazel and Elle walking in. Hazel, sensing someone watching her, looked at Charlie, grinned, and waved. Charlie smiled and waved back. Then he noticed that they were accompanied by a Ravenclaw boy, Edgar Brooks. Charlie didn't know him, but had often seen him hanging out with the two girls. For some reason, Charlie was annoyed to see him following them.

"Hey guys." Elle greeted Charlie and Jeff, taking a seat behind them. Hazel and Edgar sat down on either side of her.

"Hey." Jeff turned and smiled, genuinely glad to see them.

"You guys know Edgar Brooks, right?" Hazel asked.

"Yeah. Hi." Charlie nodded. It soon became obvious to Charlie that Edgar was interested in Elle, and suddenly his presence didn't bother him at all.

When Professor Snape entered the room, the entire class stopped talking and was silent. As he called role, he paused to sneer or make a cynical comment about each student that wasn't a Slytherin.

"Brooks...You want to endure another year of this? Very well." Edgar rolled his eyes as soon as Snape had his back turned. "Grace...perhaps this year you'll learn to speak." Snape's cold eyes flashed at Jeff, who turned a brilliant shade of pink. "Jones...on the contrary, perhaps you'll learn to control that smart mouth of yours." Charlie turned to look at Hazel, who raised an eyebrow at Snape but didn't say anything. "Reiley...Ah yes, the know it all. Are you still keen on making everyone in the class think you are better than they are?" He asked cruelly. Elle's eyes brimmed with tears of embarrassment, but nevertheless held her head high. "And Weasley...Weasley? You made it to this class? I daresay that is nothing short of miraculous, espcially after a few of your dismal test scores last year." Now it was Charlie's turn to be embarrassed. Snape thought he was stupid! He felt his ears turning bright red. "Well, I can't say I have very high expectations of this class." Snape drawled. He then began to tell them all that they were to accomplish throughout the year, and assigned them a lengthy essay that would surely take them all week to complete.

"What a slimy, mangy git." Jeff muttered once they reached the halls.

"What was he thinking? Embarrassing the entire class like that?" Hazel asked angrily.

"Shouldn't we all be used to it by now?" Edgar asked.

"That's no excuse!" Elle fumed. "He has no right to be cruel like that. Some of that stuff he said really hurt."

"I don't know how I'm going to put up with an entire year of this." Jeff grumbled.

"Charlie!" A voice from behind them called. The group stopped to see a small boy hurrying their way. Charlie recognized the young Gryffindor as Oliver Wood, a Quidditch-crazed boy in Percy's year. "When are Quidditch tryouts?" He panted, clearly winded from trying to catch up to the sixth year students.

"Er...I was thinking of holding them Friday evening. Are you interested in trying out?" He asked, and suddenly felt completely dumb. Of course he was interested in trying out. Why else would he have chased him halfway down the corridor?

"Yeah! I really am! I want to play Quidditch!" Oliver said enthusiastically.

"I can see that." Charlie laughed. "Well, I'll have a notice posted in the Gryffindor common room as soon as I decide on a time."

"Great! See you later Captain!" Oliver said loudly before scampering away. Charlie watched him, a bit stunned, before his friends' laughter broke the silence.

"Looks like you have a fanclub, Charlie." Elle giggled.

"Looks like you have a new Keeper." Jeff corrected, smiling.

"Wow...I don't even know what to say." Charlie said.

"He certainly wants to play Quidditch." Edgar observed.

"Really?" Elle asked blankly.

"He's very enthusiastic. He'd probably be really good." Hazel noted.

"That is if he can hold still long enough to get five feet off the ground." Jeff commented.

"True." Hazel said.

"Are you guys holding any tryouts this year?" Jeff asked Hazel.

"No. No one graduated last year, so we still have our old team." Hazel replied.

"That's good. You all were excellent last year."

"Thanks." Hazel smiled. "Of course, we're no Gryffindor...but we do have a good time."

"Didn't you break her arm last year?" Edgar asked. Charlie, again, felt his ears turn red. Was Edgar trying to make him feel awkward?

"Er...yeah..." He muttered.

"It was an accident. Besides, Madame Pomfrey mended my bones in a second. No big deal." Hazel said nonchalantly.

"How did that happen anyway?" Elle asked. Charlie felt his ears get redder. Did they really _have_ to talk about this on their first day back?

"I had just thrown the Quaffle and I guess you were chasing after the Snitch, right?" Hazel asked.

"Yeah." He murmured.

"Anyway, the Quaffle had just left my hand, so my arm was still outstretched, and it was just the perfect timing because then there was this awful snapping noise and the next thing I knew I was on the ground in someone's arms and I couldn't feel my own arm or remember what had happened."

"Wow...that must have hurt a _lot_." Jeff said. Charlie glared at him. Wasn't he supposed to be on _his_ side?

"Not really. I remember feeling dizzy and numb and not knowing what had happened, but no pain." Hazel said. Their conversation had brought them all the way to the Great Hall for lunch.

"Yeah...I still feel really bad about that." Charlie told her.

"Don't. Like I said, it was no big deal." Hazel told him.

"Still...I'm sorry."

"It's fine. Besides, it's Quidditch. I think there's some kind of unwritten rule that everyone will get injured at least once." Hazel joked. Charlie laughed, relieved that she didn't hold the accident against him.

"Okay...time to go eat. I'm starving." Elle announced. Edgar had already settled himself next to some Ravenclaw boys and had stared eating.

"Yeah, me too." Charlie agreed.

"Well, see you later." Hazel said.

"You girls want to eat lunch with us?" Jeff asked as Hazel and Elle went to join Edgar.

"Are we allowed to?" Hazel asked.

"I don't think we are." Elle said.

"Well, our tables are right next to each other. We could sit facing each others table and use our laps as tables." Jeff said. Elle and Hazel looked at each other.

"Sure." Hazel said.

"Yeah. That'd be fun." Elle agreed. They walked over to the aisle in between their tables and sat down facing each other. As soon as they started eating, Ben joined them and gave his friends a strange look.

"Charles...Jeffrey...Have we forgotten how we sit at the lunch table?" He spoke as though he were addressing a couple of five-year-olds. The girls laughed.

"No...we're just talking." Jeff told him.

"To who?" Ben asked.

"Ben, you know Elle Reiley and Hazel Jones, right?" Charlie asked.

"Oh yeah, hi." Ben said. "Didn't you break her arm last year?" Ben asked Charlie, pointing at Hazel.

"Yes." Charlie sighed, growing tired of being asked that question.

"Didn't it hurt? Charlie's kind of a big guy." Ben asked.

"Thanks a lot." Charlie glowered at him.

"I don't really remember feeling anything, to be honest." Hazel answered. She too, was clearly tired of the Quidditch story.

"Weird." Ben said as he sat down next to Charlie. "So, why are we sitting like this again?"

"Ben's not exactly the brightest member of our group." Jeff told the girls apolegetically.

"Clearly." Elle grinned.

"What are you talking about? I'm smart!" Ben told him.

"What's two plus two?" Charlie asked.

"Five." Ben joked.

"I rest my case." Jeff said. The girls giggled.

"So, how did you guys meet? Because unless I'm very much mistaken, you didn't even know each other this morning." Ben asked.

"Well, we knew each other, we just never really talked before this morning." Elle explained.

"Ah. So, how'd you guys get to talking?" Ben asked.

"We're all taking Care of Magical Creatures and ended up in the same group for a project we're working on." Charlie told him.

"Ha! Have fun with that." Ben gloated. "So what's the project?"

"We're going to research dragons." Hazel told him.

"Ooh, scary." Ben commented, spreading marmelade onto a roll.

"You don't care at all, do you?" Charlie asked.

"Not really." Ben replied honestly. "Hey, have you two ever-" He began to ask Hazel and Elle when the doors to the Great Hall crashed open and Fred and George came barreling in, screaming bloody murder, with Hogwarts' caretaker, Argus Filch, right on their tales.

"GET BACK HERE YOU LITTLE MONSTERS!" He screeched.

"CHARLIE SAVE US!" They screamed and clung to their older brother's legs for dear life.

"What did you DO!" Charlie asked, feeling scared himself.

"THEY SET OFF FIFTY DUNGBOMBS OUTSIDE MY OFFICE THEN THEY TURNED POOR MRS. NORRIS YELLOW! _YELLOW_!" Filch screamed himself hoarse.

"Do you have a problem with yellow?" Jeff asked. Filch glared daggers at him.

"Don't you start with me, boy." He growled.

"What is going on here?" Professor McGonagall came over to see what the fuss was about.

"These little demons have left filth all over the castle and they turned Mrs. Norris _yellow." _Filch informed her.

"That was an accident!" Fred piped up.

"Yeah! We were actually trying to turn her into a scorpian, but something went wrong." George confessed.

"Yeah...now she's just yellow." Fred shrugged. "Don't really know how that worked..." Professor McGonagall was not amused.

"Come with me, you two."

"DON'T LET HER TAKE US!" Fred and George yelled at Charlie as Professor McGonagall dragged them away. "NOOOOO!"

After a few moments of silence, Elle commented, "Well that was dramatic."

"That's one word for it." Charlie said helplessly.


	3. Stereotypes

That night, Ben, Jeff, and Charlie sat around the Gryffindor common room. Jeff and Charlie were getting a head start on their Potion's assignment while Ben ran his mouth about how great his schedule was.

"I don't have to take Potions, History, Transfiguration, Care of Magical Creatures, or Charms. It's excellent!"

"What exactly a_re_ you taking?" Jeff asked, not looking up from his homework.

"Yeah, that list of classes you're not taking pretty much includes every class at this school." Charlie asked.

"Not true! I'm taking Divination, Astrology, and Muggle Studies." Ben told him.

"_Divination_?" Jeff asked. "Ben, that class is a joke."

"Ah yes, but it is an easy joke." Ben imitated Professor Trelawney's wistful voice.

"And Muggle Studies? You're dad is a Muggle!" Charlie said.

"Your point?"

"Don't you already know everything there is to know about Muggles?"

"Once again...E-A-S-Y. Easy."

"Thanks for the spelling lesson." Charlie muttered dryly.

"What kind of job do you expect to get taking those kind of classes?" Jeff asked him.

"Since when do Quidditch players need any sort of schooling whatsoever?" Ben asked.

"You know it's not easy getting to play Professional Quidditch." Jeff told him.

"Tell that to Charlie. He's been receiving owls all summer from big time Quidditch teams just begging for him to come play for them."

"That is not even remotely true." Charlie told him.

"Oh really?" Ben raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"Yes. They sent me information, that's all."

"But you know they all want you." Ben told him.

"Charlie, do you think this sounds right?" Jeff handed Charlie his parchment, sensing that Charlie didn't want to talk about all the Quidditch teams.

"Why are you asking me? It's a miracle I even made it to the class, remember?" Charlie said sarcastically, but was thankful to change the subject. "Looks good to me, but don't take my word for it."

"Okay, I'll ask Elle tomorrow." Jeff said and began to gather his homework.

"Speaking of, those two are a couple of babes. Nice going." Ben grinned. Charlie and Jeff both ignored him. "So, are you two going to ask them out or what?"

"No."

"Why not? You asked them to eat lunch with us."

"Ooh...we asked them to eat lunch with us. We must be in love." Jeff said sarcastically.

"Well, aren't you?"

"Can't we just enjoy their company without having romantic intentions?" Jeff asked.

"You can pretend to." Ben said.

"We barely even know them." Charlie told him.

"That's a pretty sorry excuse." Ben said.

"Look...they're our partners for a group project. We happen to have had a few nice conversations with them and would like to get to know them better. That's all." Jeff said.

"Uh huh." Ben didn't look convinced at all.

"And why don't you think Jeff and I can be friends with a couple of girls without being interested in them?" Charlie asked.

"Because it just doesn't work that way!"

"Why not? They're friends with that Edgar Brooks and neither one of them is dating him." Jeff said.

"Yeah, but I think Edgar likes Elle." Charlie told Jeff.

"Oh." He said. "But she's not interested in him, is she?"

"She doesn't seem to be."

"What about Hazel?" Ben asked.

"What about her?" Charlie asked.

"Is she interested in Brooks?" Charlie froze. He hadn't thought about that.

"I don't think so." He hoped not.

"See? Girls and guys can be friends just fine." Jeff told Ben.

"Whatever." Ben said. "I bet they're in their dorm talking about you right now."

"I would not bet on that." Charlie replied.

"Why would they?" Jeff asked.

"Because they think you're dreamy." Ben batted his eyelashes.

"Why must you be such a prat?" Charlie asked.

"Fine. They're probably in their dorm talking about what dweebs the two of you are." Ben said.

"Why do we care what they think of us?" Jeff asked.

"Because if you didn't, you wouldn't be getting so worked up about it." Ben said with a smug smile. Charlie and Jeff looked at him.

"I'm going to bed." Jeff said stiffly.

"Me too." Charlie said. The two departed for their dormitory, leaving Ben in a fit of laughter in the common room.

During the days that followed, Charlie and Jeff continued to spend time with Hazel and Elle. On Friday morning, the quartet celebrated the end of their first week back at school.

"So, what do Ravenclaws do to celebrate?" Charlie wondered.

"Hazel usually brings out her Muggle music thing-" Elle began

"Record player."

"Yeah, that." Elle said and looked at Hazel before they both started laughing. The first thing Charlie and Jeff had learned about the two girls was that they were constantly completing each other's thoughts and usually ended up laughing at unspoken things only the two of them understood. "Anyway, she has some kind of new music to listen to every week."

"Then there was one time someone brought a Pinata which I think they got at Hogsmeade." Hazel said.

"That was a lot of fun." Elle smiled.

"Yeah, and then we had that candy fight."

"And you used Edgar as a shield."

"Good times." Hazel laughed.

"Wow, that's weird." Jeff said.

"Yeah, I always imagined your parties would be, I don't know, a lot of people sitting around reading." Charlie grinned.

"Stereotypes." Hazel said with a wave of her hand.

"That would be funny. We just won a Quidditch match. Okay everyone, break out the history text books!" Elle laughed.

"And if we're feeling _really _adventurous, we may even look through the _Standard Book of Spells_." Hazel paused for dramatic effect. "_Grade 7!_"

"Woah!" Elle, Jeff, and Charlie all cried jokingly before everyone burst out laughing.

"That actually sounds like the kind of party Percy would enjoy." Charlie said thoughtfully once the laughter had subsided.

"Some party." Jeff commented.

"What are Gryffindor parties like?" Hazel asked.

"Mostly we sit around and eat a lot." Jeff said honestly.

"Really? There are no heroic speeches? No swords or knighting ceremonies?" Elle asked with a smile.

"Nope, just a lot of food." Jeff said.

"Yeah, my brother Bill told me where the secret entrance to the kitchen is, so whenever we have a party, Ben, Jeff, and I usually sneak down there and gather up loads of cakes and cookies and pumpkin juice and then we're welcomed back as heroes of the common room." Charlie grinned.

"Are there really house elves here?" Hazel asked.

"Yeah, they're hilarious." Charlie said.

"All you have to do is blink at them and they'll give you about ten different pastries." Jeff said.

"Are they happy?" Elle asked.

"They seem to be." Jeff said.

"I think I can honestly say I've never encountered an unhappy house elf." Charlie told her.

"That's good." Elle and Hazel said as one.

"Cool! Stereo!" Jeff quipped, making everyone laugh again.

"Hiya Captain!" An eager voice joined the conversation.

"Hey Oliver." Charlie grinned. Oliver looked as though he believed there was no greater honor than having the legendary Charlie Weasley say his name.

"Are tryouts still tonight?" He asked.

"Yep. 7:30 on the field."

"Great! See you then Charlie!" Oliver turned and ran off to join some third-year friends, all of whom looked very impressed that Oliver was on a first-name basis with Charlie.

"That kid is going to be heartbroken if he doesn't make the team." Elle said.

"I know." Charlie said. "But if there's someone better, I really don't have a choice."

"Maybe no one else will try out." Hazel said.

"You don't hang out with many Gryffindors, do you?" Jeff asked. Hazel blinked. "Every guy wants to be on the team because we haven't lost a match since Charlie joined the teaim and as Gryffindors, we love glory. Every girl wants to be on the team because that means they get to talk to Charlie and Ben on a regular basis. I wouldn't be surprised if we had at least twenty kids try out for one position tonight."

"But the position you need to fill is Keeper, right?" Hazel asked.

"Yeah." Charlie said.

"That's a really hard position. Someone can't just go out and become a Keeper. You've got to have a lot of skill _and _the courage it takes to get out there and have Quaffles thrown at your face. I don't think that wanting glory or to hang out with you guys is going to compensate for skill if they don't have any. I mean, to play any position you really have to want to play Quidditch, not just the perks that come with being a Quidditch player." Hazel said.

"That's very true." Charlie said, thoroughly impressed by her Quidditch thoughts. "I knew from the very get-go that I wanted to be a Seeker, but if there had been one position I wouldn't have wanted, it would have been Keeper. I still would have taken it, but I would not like having Quaffles flying at me every second. Bludgers are bad enough."

"I hate Bludgers. They scare me to death." Hazel said honestly. "I don't think I'd make a very good Beater or Keeper. I'd probably make a worse Keeper than Beater though, because at least I can hit things."

"When my brothers and I play Quidditch at home, Fred and George play Beaters and we make Ron Keep for us." Charlie grinned as he took a sip of water. "Fred and George I think will make excellent Beaters."

"They have a good build for it." Hazel noticed. "One of our Beaters the year I joined the team was as thin as a toothpick, which wasn't a bad thing, but I think that his bat weighed more than he did."

"Yeah, it helps if the Beaters have some muscles." Charlie said.

"Then again, it also helps if Seekers are dainty and lightweight and look at you!" Ben joked as he joined the group.

"Sod off." Charlie said, though he couldn't help but grin. He knew Ben was just poking fun at him.

"So, what are we talking about? I just heard that Beaters are supposed to have muscles."

"We're talking about Quidditch." Elle said.

"Thanks, Ellie. I got that much." Ben said.

"Ellie?" Elle asked. Ben grinned and winked.

"So how old is Ron?" Hazel asked Charlie.

"He's nine."

"He must be pretty brave to play Keeper for you."

"Well, he's the only one who can, really. Bill has absolutely no hand-eye coordination, so having him Keep would be equivalent to throwing a Quaffle at a really skinny tree, Ginny is too young to play with us, and I think she wants to be a Chaser anyway, and the idea of Percy even touching a broomstick is funny enough. To think about him playing Quidditch is flat-out hysterical." Charlie said.

"But, if you only have a Seeker and two Beaters practicing, why do you need a Keeper?" Elle asked.

"Since I'm Captain, I need to know how to play every position in case we have an emergency or if someone can't make it or gets sick." Charlie explained.

"That's really responsible." Hazel smiled. Charlie swore (or prehaps really hoped) he saw a shimmer of admiration shining in her eyes.

"Thanks, but I just really want to win." He replied with a playful grin as the bell rang.

"Time for class." Ben moaned.

"You have _Muggle Studies_." Jeff told him.

"It's still class, isn't?" Ben asked. Charlie and Hazel exchanged grins before following their friends out of the Great Hall.

_Author's Note: Hey! Well...is it horrible? I don't really know how to write good romance... Of course, this story isn't very romantic yet. The characters are still in the very early stages of love, but I have a lot of ideas. I hope everyone's enjoyed it, but if not, I totally understand. I'm a romantic, but I'm not good at writing it! Also...I did not come up with the title "Hard to Concentrate" all by myself. It's the title of one of the songs on "Stadium Arcadium" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. It's a great song and I just wanted everyoneto know that I do not own the title to this story._

_Love, Peace, Good thoughts for all - _

_Midnight Paradise_


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